Paedophile 'kills himself' in Bali

BBC ^ | 12 May 2004 | Rachel Harvey

[csvset]

Paedophile 'kills himself' in Bali

By Rachel Harvey

BBC correspondent in Jakarta

A former Australian diplomat has been found hanged in his jail cell on the Indonesian island of Bali a day after being convicted of paedophile offences.

William Brown, who retired to live in Bali in 1996, was found guilty of sexually assaulting two boys and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Mr Brown had admitted to having sex with the boys but said they had consented willingly.

The sentence was one year short of the maximum allowed for the crime.

Fifty-two year old William Brown was found hanging from a bar in his prison cell early on Wednesday morning.

He had apparently used a strip of material torn from his mattress to take his own life.

The sentence handed down by the Bali court on Tuesday was considered unusually harsh.

The last foreigner to be convicted of child sex abuse was given a jail term of less than a year, but the trial of William Brown, who had served as an Australian diplomat in Indonesian from 1982 to 1984, had come to be seen as something of a test case.

The local police commissioner, Rai Sudiani, said Brown had become hysterical after the guilty verdict was delivered. "He was cursing and shouting and we had to restrain him," he said.

An autopsy will now be carried out to confirm the cause of death.

The Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who had earlier welcomed the sentence, described Mr Brown's death as a regrettable and ugly incident, but, Mr Downer added, here was a man who was convicted and sentenced for paedophilia, which is a grotesque offence.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/3706149.stm

Published: 2004/05/12 05:57:54 GMT

[csvset]

"He was cursing and shouting and we had to restrain him," he said.

What a loser, paedophile's should receive a death sentence anyways.

[Dante3]

We should start handing out siffer penalties for pedophiles. The message should be made clear: no matter what ones age, sex, race, lifestyle, ethnic background -- just leave the children alone.

[End Times Sentinel]

Maybe I'm missing the point here, but this is NOT going to be good for the Balinese tourism industry.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

[OldSmaj]

Fifty-two year old William Brown was found hanging from a bar in his prison cell early on Wednesday morning.

So sad.

Too bad.

Who cares?

Pervert.

[whereasandsoforth]

This article doesn't say whether or not his pants were down around his ankles when found. A lot of preverted homosexuals accidently kill themselves trying to "get off" this way.

[Ronin]

If the Balinese tourism industry needs paedophiles to stay in business it needs to be shut down anyhow.

[John Valentine]

The point I don't get are those that the poster put around "killls himself".

Is he trying to say that this isn't true? I saw the guy and he was going berserk after the verdict. It's easy for me to believe that he took his own life, and good riddance too. Bali doesn't need his kind.

But, I'd say that a pervert's suicide is irrelevant to tourism, unless it's his fellow perverts that you are talking about and we don't want them here anyway.

There are many things that continue to weigh on the tourism industry of Bali; this ins't one of them.

[B4Ranch]

How do we get our judges to give the same sentences? (death by hanging)

[Michael.SF.]

That was really more information then I needed to know.

[Michael.SF.]

Why the scare quotes around killed himself?

That implies that they suspect he was murdered, but they offer no information to substantiate the claim. Should they not used the term: apparent suicide?

[af_vet_1981]

The Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, who had earlier welcomed the sentence, described Mr Brown's death as self administered justice.

[Michael.SF.]

oops. I should have read all the posts before repeating your thoughts on the subject of the scare quotes.

By the way, it was the BBC, not the poster who used them. They appear in the link from which the story was obtained. Which when you think about it is worse. A poster can be forgiven for making an error (although the way some here jump on a mistake, I am not certain all would agree), but the BBC are supposed to be professional writers and should know better.

[csvset]

Click on the link, I didn't "add" anything to the headline. I posted the original headline, as requested by the folks who run Free Republic.

[Tamzee]

There is a significant suicide rate among pedophiles once they are caught or especially once found guilty.

[Republicus2001]

it USED to be a capital offense in the US - since we've relaxed prosecution, child abuse and child killing is now as common place as lesbian fisting.

[aShepard]

"We should start handing out siffer penalties for pedophiles. The message should be made clear: no matter what ones age, sex, race, lifestyle, ethnic background -- just leave the children alone.

That is, unless you are a Muslim and don't own a pretty goat!

[aShepard]

"We should start handing out siffer penalties for pedophiles. The message should be made clear: no matter what ones age, sex, race, lifestyle, ethnic background -- just leave the children alone.

That is, unless you are a Muslim and don't own a pretty goat!

[John Valentine]

Sorry about that! It's BBC that should be excoriated for this egregious and inaccurate use of quotes. There is no evidence whatsoever that this was anything other than a suicide.